


In Pari Delicto

by elysianmars



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-09 12:14:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11104380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elysianmars/pseuds/elysianmars
Summary: The Law Firm modern AU I have been threatening for a while.John Laurens moves from London to join the NYC law firm formerly managed by his father and starts working with Alexander Hamilton, among others. Despite the fact that they're both clearly crazy about each other, being emotionally stunted and having weird ideas about self-sacrifice make things messy and complicated in a number of ways. And that's before the stresses of 90 hour weeks and unfortunately revealed secrets come into play...This is predominantly a way for me to bitch about work and poke fun at some of the weirdness of life in a law firm.





	1. The Interview

Not for the first time that week, Alexander Hamilton found himself wondering how he had ended up in this situation. Usually when this happened he could at least pinpoint the misguided or ill-advised action he had taken that was the cause of his discomfort, but this time even he had to admit it wasn’t all his fault.

“I’m just saying, I don’t see the point in interviewing him if we have to just give him the job anyway. And if the whole point of getting him on board is to help me manage my ‘unsustainable workload’ maybe it isn’t the best idea to waste an hour of my day on gently walking some rich kid through soft ball interview questions, y’know?” He could feel his tone veer into increasingly whiney territory, and mentally kicked himself. This was not the time to sound like a toddler throwing a tantrum, not when he had over sixty client emails to action urgently and a stack of work on his in-tray that he could hardly see over. 

“Honestly Ham, it’ll be more like forty minutes, if that. And you could stand to take a little bit of a break and get out of that chair for a bit. It’ll be good to meet the guy if you’re gonna be working so closely with him in training him up, and it’ll let him see what exactly he’s getting into.” Mulligan paused, letting his words sink in and knowing that getting Hamilton to agree was only a matter of time. “He seems like a good kid, and he’ll be a big help to you when he starts. I know you’re busy, but that’s exactly the problem. You can’t do all this by yourself, you’re only human.”

“Good to see you’re really taking account of that ‘mental health in the workplace’ newsletter, Herc,” Hamilton grumbled, not before he broke out into a smile and stood up suddenly. “Fine, okay, you’ve got a point. It would be good to meet him. But that’s not to say I don’t still think it’s bullshit that he got to skip the partner interview and go straight to the HR/associate double whammy. I didn’t get to do that and I interned here for three summers straight! Anyway, anyway, I get it. I guess he can’t help who his father is, etc etc, and he looks plenty qualified, even if he just passed the Bar like a week ago. But I swear to god Herc, if you drag this out for longer than it needs to go, I’ll not let you talk me into anything again. What time is he coming in?” 

“Great, I’ll send you a copy of his resume so you can come up with some questions. And I think his flight lands at around 2pm, he told me he would message me when he gets in a cab so I’ll know when you expect him.” Mulligan stood and leaned in to grasp Hamilton’s shoulder, giving it a tight squeeze. “It’s really not all that bad Ham, I think you’ll like this guy. Henry speaks highly of him of course, but he’s also just really personable and I think he’ll be a fast learner. Just go into this with an open mind, huh?” 

And three hours later, Hamilton finds himself sitting in the conference room on the sixth floor client reception that is commonly used for interviews, staring in disbelief at the resume of John Laurens, the son of former managing partner Henry Laurens and apparently his new associate in the Capital Markets department of Bader & Ginsburg LLC.

“Please tell me this is a fucking joke? Finished high school and had his sketches published in a scientific journal, then spent a year travelling Europe with ‘noted naturalist’ Alexander Garden before starting his law degree in Oxford? Law degrees are three years in Oxford so I mean yeah, fair enough, he had a year to kill, but still, what the hell? Why didn’t he study natural science, or some shit? Not to say his grades aren’t impressive, it’s just a little out of left field. And then he gets his LLM in international humanitarian law and human rights from Geneva, AND THEN gets a freakin’ pupillage from Doughty Street chambers but throws that all away to sit the bar exams in New York and come work in capital markets, of all things? Fuck, Herc, are we sure this guy isn’t messing with us just because he knows he can get away with it?” Hamilton ran his hand through his hair, brushing it back with his fingers and smoothing it so it fell neatly down his shoulders. He looked at Mulligan expectantly and groaned when he just got a shrug in response.

“Well, it all ties in with what Henry told me about him over the years. He’s a talented guy, and it is possible to have a diverse range of interests and still succeed in a career in corporate law. Maybe let’s try to give him a chance, huh?” Hamilton rolled his eyes at the imploring look Mulligan was giving him as he rifled through the file in front of him, rearranging the pages before closing it over and sliding across the table to Hamilton. “And he actually interned here for a few weeks one summer in high school, so he knows what he’s getting himself in for. That’s worth its weight in gold. Now, read through the rest of that and his responses to the prompt questions. He’ll be here soon and I think he has to leave to catch a flight to South Carolina to visit Henry, so for everyone’s sake I’d really like if we could get started right away.” 

The receptionist knocked on the glass door and Hamilton jumped up to open it, a bundle of nervous energy. “John Laurens has arrived for you both, he says he’s a little early but he’s talking to George so I think he can be distracted if you guys aren’t ready for him yet.” 

“Great, thanks so much. You can send him up in five minutes or so, we’re almost all set here.” The receptionist nodded and smoothly backed out of the room, sliding the door closed in front of her.

“So do you want to play bad cop, or do you want to leave that to me?” Hamilton asked, taking his seat and readjusting his tie ever so slightly. Mulligan couldn’t help but laugh, shaking his head fondly.

“Nah Ham, I think you’ve got that sewn up. Anyway, I have a checklist of HR questions I need to ask so I’m relying on you to focus more on the tricky technical stuff if you want.” Mulligan made his way to the Keurig in the corner. “I hope he’s a coffee man, like his father,” he said, fishing some mugs out of the cupboard underneath.

“Yeah, good luck to him surviving here if he doesn’t drink coffee! I’m pretty sure I’d be dead without it. Okay, so my biggest concern is that he clearly wanted his career to be in litigation, and I know it doesn’t matter because he’s as good as in but I want to see how he reacts to the questions anyway. Apart from that, I’ll make nice,” Hamilton said, reading John Laurens’ prompt responses from the page in his hand and humming in consideration. “Huh. He writes well, anyway.”

Mulligan passed a mug over to Hamilton, trying not to wince as Hamilton took a gulp without letting it cool. “Great, this shouldn’t go on for too long then. Ah, there he is!” Mulligan led Hamilton out of the conference room to the waiting area outside, where John Laurens had taken a seat and was flicking through the latest edition of the Economist. Mulligan bounded forward, his right hand outstretched to shake Laurens’. “Great to see you again John, I hope you had a pleasant flight. This is Alexander Hamilton, one of the associates in the department with whom you’ll be working closely if you’re successful today in securing the role.”

“How are you, Herc? It feels strange to see you in person again after having emailed you so much lately! Nice to meet you, Mr Hamilton,” Laurens turned to face Alex, who was struggling to stop his jaw from physically dropping. Even though he had of course known that there was bound to be some physical resemblance between Henry Laurens and his son, Hamilton had not been prepared for the disconcerting sight of what looked like Henry Laurens thirty years ago, if slightly shorter and with curlier hair. He even sounded like his father, despite his South Carolinian drawl clearly having abated during his time in Europe.

“Hi there, you can call me Alex,” Hamilton said, finally getting a grip of himself and shaking Laurens’ hand with vigour. “We should get started, I understand you have a flight to catch later this afternoon so hopefully we can get this over with sooner rather than later.” He turned on his heel and strode back into the conference room. “Would you like some water, or coffee?”

“I’ll have some sparkling water, if you have any,” Laurens replied as he scanned the room trying to figure out on which side of the table he was expected to sit. Noticing his confusion, Hamilton gestured to the near end of the table. 

“You can sit wherever you like, but we’re going to be here,” Hamilton indicated with his chin, both of his hands occupied by glasses and a large water bottle, “so being opposite us would make the most sense. Ice?”

Laurens shot Mulligan a bemused look, not sure whether Hamilton had been sarcastic or if he really didn’t mind which part of the table Laurens occupied. Mulligan raised an eyebrow and smiled reassuringly, so Laurens responded “ice would be great, thank you,” and took a seat as Hamilton placed a glass of sparkling water in front of him. 

“I might have to ask for more water after this, I’m still a little thirsty after my flight. I always forget that it takes that bit longer flying from east to west so I wasn’t properly prepared for it,” he said with a smile, sitting straight with his hands folded over his lap and hidden from the view of Mulligan and Hamilton as they sat across from him.

“Wait, where did you fly from again? I thought you were joining us from Charleston?” Hamilton asked before he could stop himself, worried he sounded a little too interested in Laurens’ answer.

“Oh no, I’ve just gotten in from London! I’m going to Charleston for a few days this evening to visit my father but I went back to London for a couple of months after taking the Bar exams here in New York.”

Hamilton concentrated all of his energy on not openly gawking. As far as he could tell from his application details, Laurens hadn’t been working during his most recent stint in London and he marvelled that it was possible to stay in such an expensive city for several months without an income before remembering who he was talking to. “You must be exhausted, with such a long flight and the time difference and everything. Did you fly in that suit?” He couldn’t help himself from asking, noticing how Laurens’ clothes looked as if he had just picked them up from the tailor. 

“Yeah, it wasn’t actually too bad. Kind of nice to have the warmth of the jacket actually, it gets chilly up there,” Laurens replied with a short laugh.

“Right, let’s get started!” Mulligan gathered the papers in front of him and met Laurens’ gaze. “So, John Laurens. Why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself, your educational background, and why you’re interested in the job here in Bader & Ginsburg?”

“Well, I studied law with French law as an undergrad in Oxford, spending a year in Université Panthéon-Assas in Paris, before doing my Masters in Geneva in international humanitarian law and human rights. My thesis focused on the moral and legal failings of the UN in relation to the genocide at Srebrenica and the international tensions that caused the context at the time. After that I completed a mini-pupillage at Doughty Street chambers in London, won a scholarship to the Middle Temple and took the Bar Professional Training Course. I was offered a pupillage with Doughty Street but I knew it wasn’t really for me, and I was starting to miss home so I decided to take the New York bar exams and come back to the US.”

“Interesting, but that raises a few questions I hope you won’t mind addressing?” Hamilton interjected, very much cutting Laurens off even though he was clearly pausing to gather his thoughts to put the right spin on what he was going to say next.

“Um sure thing, fire ahead.”

“So you have no actual experience working in a law firm carrying out transactional work? I’m not very familiar with the BPTC in the UK, but I do know that as law is an undergrad degree there and further training is required to practice law, that the emphasis is much more academic than practical, and your training is clearly more in the area of litigation. Also, just looking at the subjects you studied as part of your degree and masters, it doesn’t look like you took any optional commercial or corporate subjects beyond the bare minimum. Fair enough if your focus was on the human rights stuff, and I’d like you to tell me what that would bring to the table working here and how those skills are transferrable, but it’s certainly… well, it’s unusual to see someone who only studied the most basic corporate law subjects wanting to work in this area.” 

Mulligan cleared his throat, ready to clarify the questions from Hamilton’s outburst, but Laurens jumped right in as soon as Hamilton paused for breath.

“All very good questions and I’m sure I can give you satisfactory answers. For one thing, my international experience is transferrable to working here. My father always wanted me to be a lawyer and to work at this firm, every decision I have made in terms of my education and professional development has been building up to this in one way or another. Sure, my mini-pupillage focused mostly on human rights litigation, but the things I was working on there were highly complex and required me understanding contexts in much the same way I would have to as a junior associate here. As far as my subject choice is concerned, I’ve always been of the opinion that commercial acumen is absolutely imperative working in a large law firm and that isn’t something you can learn from a book. And if you look at my results in the relevant classes, you’ll see I did quite well in them so have a steady footing in the core principles. I’m a quick learner too, so anything I don’t know I’m sure I’ll pick up over time.” 

Laurens was grateful that hands were hidden from Hamilton’s gaze as he picked at his cuticles and tried to project a sense of confidence he didn’t really feel as he recited the lines he had prepared just in case. Although his father had assured him that the job was his, that reassurance had rankled him for weeks and he was determined to show that he could get the job on the back of his not unsubstantial merits.

“Fair enough,” Hamilton said, catching Laurens’ eye and smiling intently. “Well Herc, I’m happy with that answer so if you want to get to some of the HR cra – sorry, stuff, I’ll tell Mr Laurens a little bit more about the job and the perks and we can wrap this up.” Hamilton had to hold back a laugh at the bemused expression on Mulligan’s face as he rifled through some of the papers in front of him.

“Uh, sure. So John, I just want to clarify that you don’t have a lengthy notice period and ask when you could join us here?”

“Oh of course! I can start from next week I guess, my flight back from Charleston is on Sunday afternoon so I could come in on Monday morning if that works?” He felt a trill of genuine excitement all of a sudden, delighted that he hadn’t come across too defensively in response to Hamilton’s questions and a little surprised too that he had relented sooner than expected.

“Monday’s great. Perfect, even. I’ve been briefed on a deal that we’ll need to do due diligence on first thing next week so I can show you the datarooms and you can get started right away. As I’m sure you know, you’ll be expected to work hard here. The hours can be long but you’ll be well compensated for that and there’s a steep learning curve but that’s the best way to learn, and you’re bright so you’ll be fine. I think your target for billable hours will be around 1900, but don’t quote me on that until I iron it out with George. As far as perks go, we have a subsidised restaurant on site, a free gym, free dry cleaning, great healthcare benefits and life assurance, a cycle to work scheme and if you’re here past 9pm you get a cab home and dinner at the client’s expense, which is good because you’ll be availing of that a lot. We also have a pretty killer Christmas tree in the lobby every year, obviously not like Rockerfeller centre good but I think it’s the snazziest one you’re likely to see indoors, and there’s a tree lighting ceremony too which is great. We have a huge Christmas gala, a barbecue in the summer and a number of client events throughout the year too, which you might enjoy. Starting salary is $165,000 excluding bonuses, send your bank details through to Herc if you haven’t already and he’ll get you set up on payroll. I’m excited to have you on board, John Laurens.”

“Great, that all sounds great,” Laurens replied, trying to wrap his head around the rush of information he hadn’t really been expecting and still not sure how the interview had gone so well, given the initial vibes of hostility he had picked up on from Hamilton. He couldn’t help but notice that Mulligan’s face was full of tension as he tried not to laugh. 

“Well, I was going to ask if you had any questions for us but I think Ham covered everything there, thanks Alex,” Mulligan said, shooting Hamilton a pointed look and then standing to see Laurens out. “I mean, if you do have any questions feel free to ask of course, but it’s clear that we want you here and will be calling later to offer you the position and discuss the finer details of your contract, so we can talk more then.”

“Cool, I look forward to it. Uh my flight lands at 9.30ish so I guess it can wait until tomorrow if that works better for you guys…?”

“I’ll call you if Herc isn’t still here.” Hamilton joined Mulligan and led the way to the door, practically bouncing with nervous energy as he did so. “I’ll check a few things with George and one of the other senior partners and be in touch, or you could shoot me a message when you land so I know you can take a call and we can get everything wrapped up this evening?”

"Yeah, I'll message you. My father will be pleased to hear the good news when I arrive. Here's my phone, I don't have your number but just put it in my contacts and I'll let you know once I've landed." Hamilton carefully typed his number into Laurens' iPhone and handed it back to him triumphantly.

"I look forward to hearing from you. Have a safe and enjoyable flight, and tell Henry I say hi. It's weird not having him around anymore, but we always knew he was destined for a political career so we're all very happy for him."

"Thanks for coming in man, it was great to see you. And congratulations! I'm sure everyone will be excited to hear you're coming on board." Mulligan pulled Laurens into a hug, genuinely delighted to know that he would soon be working with him and enjoying his company.

"It was my pleasure and thanks for having me. I'll talk to you tonight Mr Hamilton, and I'll see you both bright and early on Monday morning!" Laurens couldn't stop an earnest grin breaking out on his face as he made his way towards the elevator, raising his hand in a farewell wave as he left.

"Well, that went better than expected," Hamilton said, going back into the conference room to gather the documents spread across the table and get back to his work. 

"To be honest I'm mostly impressed you kept your tongue in your mouth and didn't jump across the table at the poor guy, but yeah, it went well! I told you he's a great guy and he handled himself perfectly when you were layering it on a bit."

"You should know me better than to think I'd shit where I eat, Herc."

"I know you well enough to know that you probably believe that, but I know you better to know that you also can't stick to anything that's a good idea, so..." Mulligan ducked as Hamilton threw a wad of paper at him, laughing.

"Yeah, well. I do have some self-restraint, even if I rarely show it. Look, he's an attractive guy but there are a lot of attractive guys here I've managed to control myself around so it won't be a problem. Anyway, who even knows what his situation is. I'm content to admire from a distance and I really do think he's gonna be easy to work with, so it's all good. Monday will be interesting, I'm really going to through him in the deep end with this dataroom shit so it'll be a real sink-or-swim kind of thing."

"Well I'm sure he'll be fine and you'll go easier on him if you have to be. Come on now, get back to the work you were so reluctant to leave earlier. I'll tell George to give you a call to decide on his target hours and we'll hopefully have everything confirmed this evening."

Hamilton nodded and pressed the button on the elevator panel to go down to his floor.

"Thanks for making me do that by the way. I really do think he'll be a big help and it's nice to have met him and know that in advance of Monday, it's put my mind at ease. Let's just hope he really does know what he's getting himself in for."


	2. Lim(b)o

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John begins to realise that there are certain downsides to being home again.

John willed the elevator to go straight to the ground floor without stopping to let anyone else on. He fished his phone out of his pocket and checked his notifications. Two missed calls, one voicemail, a few emails he was sure weren’t important and a text message clearly intended to be the first thing he’d see when he lit up his screen: “Call me back as soon as you get this.” 

John sighed and put his phone away again. He still had to pick his luggage up from the reception before he would be in the car to the airport, and he didn’t want to be look rude and preoccupied with his phone when he was already concerned that his nerves before the interview had made him a little distant. He had been glad to see a familiar face in George Washington and latched onto that lifeline immediately, but he was sure he came across as disinterested in the small talk the receptionist at the front desk had been making and he wanted to leave with a good impression. 

The elevator dinged as it reached the ground floor and John adjusted his tie before stepping out into the lobby.

“Hi there, thank you so much for keeping an eye on my luggage. I think the car will be out front soon, would it be alright if I took the bags now?” he asked the receptionist. 

“Of course, and you are very welcome. In fact, the driver pulled up a few moments ago so we have your bags outside ready to go when you are.” She was smiling at him engagingly and he found himself straightening up to return it in kind. “I hope you have a great day.”

“Oh that’s perfect, thank you. And same to you! I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again soon, I’m actually going to be working here from Monday.” 

John turned with a wave and walked to the revolving doors, where he could see his two suitcases and messenger bag on a luggage cart just outside. The driver was definitely early but now that the initial relief and adrenaline after the interview was wearing off fast, he was grateful to have somewhere he could sit in silence and compose himself. It also meant he could put off responding to his missed calls for another little while without arousing suspicion. 

It was a crisp afternoon but as soon as he stepped outside, John shook off his suit jacket and uncuffed and rolled his sleeves. His forearms broke into goosebumps almost immediately.

“I’ll take that bag in with me, the rest can go in the trunk please,” he said to the driver, scooping up his messenger bag and slinging his jacket over his shoulder. The driver opened the door and he slid into the back of the limo with a sigh, relieved to feel for the first time all day that he wasn’t under scrutiny. He closed his eyes and rolled his shoulders, working some of the tension out until he felt like he could melt into the leather seats.

He took his phone out again and opened Spotify. His queued songs from earlier had been chosen specifically to get him in the zone for his interview and drown out some of the self-doubt that had been creeping up over the last few days. Now that it was over and he had an entirely different mountain to climb later that day, he wondered if something more mellow and subdued might be more appropriate instead. Just as he chose to browse some mood playlists, a call came through on the screen. In his panic, John declined the call and realising too late that it would be obvious he had rejected it, seriously considered throwing his phone out the window.

“Fuck fuck fuck!” He returned the call right away, squirming a little in his seat as the car pulled away from the kerb. 

“Dad, I’m so sorry, I had literally just gotten into the car and checked my phone and I must have declined your call by accident. How are things? I’m just on my way to LaGuardia now.”

Even though Henry Laurens hadn’t yet said anything, John could hear his jaw set and wondered what combination of anger and disappointment he’d have to deal with.

“Good of you to call back, Jack. I wasn’t sure if you had made it back or if you got to the city safely, but George let me know that he saw you before the interview so at least that set my mind at rest as you didn’t bother to even send me a message.” 

Sounded like around a 70:30 anger to disappointment split. John cleared his throat.

“I’m really sorry, I was nervous getting off the plane and then I had my US phone at the bottom of my bag until I got it a second ago, and I don’t know your number without my contacts list so I couldn’t dial you from my English one. I’m sorry, it’s the jet lag and everything, I’m just all over the place. But I’m on my way to the airport now so I’ll see you this evening.” He paused, waiting to see if his father would ask about the interview or if it was up to him to keep going. After a few seconds he could feel himself growing prickly as Henry Laurens let the awkward silence stretch out. “It went well. They’re calling me later to confirm but they said they’ll be happy to have me and I start Monday, so that’s-”

“Next Monday?” 

“Um, no. Monday as in Monday, three days from now. They wanted me to start as soon as possible.”

“But you’ll be here in Mepkin on Monday.” 

Even though John knew exactly where this was going, knew intimately that in the end there’d be no point in his having argued about it, he felt the familiar irritation like a physical presence. 

“I thought I’d fly back to New York on Sunday evening, get settled in the apartment. They really do want me there as soon as I can start and it’s a steep learning curve, so I want to be able to make actual contributions sooner rather than later and I already agreed to come in on Monday to begin training,” he started, trying to put the best possible construction on his reasons for wanting to come back to New York at the earliest opportunity. 

“Nonsense Jack, this will be your first time home in years and you want to leave so soon? They can manage without you for another week. I’ll call George and set it up, it really isn’t an issue. For a boy I practically had to drag kicking and screaming over the Atlantic, you’re very eager to be in New York all of a sudden.”

John tugged at a curl at the nape of his neck.

“Fine,” he sighed, already resigned to spending a week longer than he had anticipated in his childhood home.

“The kids are excited to see you Jack, so remember that. It will be a perfectly lovely visit home and a chance to recharge your batteries before you join the firm. Trust me,” Henry Laurens broke out into a chuckle, “you’ll need every opportunity for rest that you can get.”

“Yeah, I’ll be very busy,” John replied, already zoning out of the conversation a little as he began to think about his father calling the firm to rearrange his plans. What would Herc and that Hamilton guy think, hearing that he couldn’t even contact them himself to ask to start later? He knew that realistically going in a week later wasn’t a huge deal, but the thought of his future colleagues thinking he couldn't handle his own affairs was rankling. He lit up his screen to check his battery. 67%.

“Dad my battery is really low and I need it to be good when I land in Charleston so I have to go in a sec.”

“Just buy one of those portable chargers on the plane, son. They’re pre-charged when you buy them, so you’ll have plenty of juice when you land,” Henry Laurens replied immediately, almost as if he had anticipated the excuse.

“I need my phone to confirm the details with HR though and they said they’d call me right away. Actually, I’ll tell them I need to push back to next Monday. My flight lands at 9ish, I’ll send you a message then. See you soon dad!” Before Henry Laurens had a chance to say anything more, John had hung up and opened his message thread with Martha.

> Jfc dad is up to his old tricks already. I thought you said he was in a good mood this week!??

He smiled as those three dots came on the screen almost right away, indicating that his sister was drafting a lengthy reply.

> WELCOME HOME, STRANGER! He IS in a good mood, what did you do to piss him off this time? He’s really happy that his precious first born son is home and finally following in his footsteps, so I can’t imagine what you could have done to knock him off that pedestal.

> That said, I left at like 7am this morning sooooooo…. a lot of time for things to go wrong!

> When will you be home???? Like, what time? Are you driving or being picked up? Did you bring me presents from London? I made banana bread for you last night, can't promise there’ll still be any left though.

> I’m so excited you’re hoooooome <3 <3 <3

> Hahaha, okay calm down

> My flight gets in at 9 so I should be at the house at 11 or so, I’m being picked up. Too tired and jet lagged to drive. If you get there before me, please try to save some banana bread! Today has been long as balls

> Of course I got you a present!

> I jest about the banana bread, there are like three loaves of it for you. I know you too well. YAY PRESENTS!

> I’ll see you later Martha (: I want to try to nap before the plane so g2g. 

> Safe flight!! <3

John turned on flight mode and opened the list of his offline tracks on Spotify. Finally, some peace.

Back in the firm, Hamilton closed over the transaction bible he had been working from and started a new email.

To: Gilbert.duMotier@baderginsburg.com; Elizabeth.Schuyler@baderginsburg.com 

Subject: Coffee

Guys, coffee break? I need to tell you all about the delectable eye candy coming to an office near you soon! Also I’m bored and cold and I want company. Hit me up when you’re free! I’m legit going to get some now so hopefully it’s in the next few minutes or you’ll miss me hahaaa

Alex walked from his office to the mini kitchen in the middle of the floor. He could see Lafayette was there already, stirring some sugar into a mug of black tea and chatting in smooth French to another of the lawyers on secondment from the Paris office.

“Did you even get my email, or were you just out here anyway?” Alex asked him playfully, reaching out to brush his shoulder.

“I was out here anyway, introducing Laureline to the wonderful tea and coffee facilities! Let me guess, you wanted a coffee break?”

“When do I ever not? Hi, Laureline,’ he added distractedly, fiddling with the coffee machine. 

“I heard the interview went well and Mr Laurens will be joining us soon,” Lafayette said.

“Yep, he’s here from Monday. Wait until you see him Lafayette, he’s like a younger, much hotter version of Henry Laurens. He was wearing a freaking waistcoat, I was tempted to ask him to open out his suit jacket so I could see if he had braces or something too. Interesting sartorial choices, I can appreciate that.”

“George did mention that there is an uncanny family resemblance. But uh, he also said that the younger Laurens will join us on the following Monday morning because he is spending more time with his family before coming to New York.” 

“Huh? That makes no sense though, he was the one who suggested this week. He seemed eager about it too. Maybe he just realised he won’t get a chance to go home much once things ramp up in here and wants to make the most of it.” Hamilton’s voice, usually so strong and forthright, began to taper off a little and Lafayette quirked an eyebrow at him.

“You seem quite taken with him, Alex. It is only another week to wait, I am sure you can manage it if you really try.”

“You’re worse than Herc!” Hamilton laughed, picking up his freshly poured coffee and leading Lafayette towards their offices. “Trust me, I can manage. But man, don’t say I didn’t warn you when you see this guy. We’re going to have to invest in industrial fans for the office to keep us cool because it's about to get HOT IN HERE!”

Hamilton sashayed into his office with a cackle and threw himself back into reviewing the endless security documents in his transaction bible. He absolutely did not think about John Laurens, and how for a while at least, he would soon be sharing an office with the most interesting person he had met in a long time.


	3. Perdu?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliza and Lafayette are brunch buddies because of course they are, and John's first day gets off to a less than ideal start.

“That really is so like something Alex would say. We’ve gotta start writing this shit down, I bet if we presented him with an actual collection of the crap that comes out of his mouth he wouldn’t even believe it.” Eliza took a sip of her prosecco and continued. “Honestly, half the time I think he’s joking and then I remember who I’m speaking to and it’s like all the rules go out the window.”

“Only you could roast Ham so affectionately, Eliza. But you are right. My favourite is when he says something and can tell from everyone’s reactions that it is ridiculous but he is not sure why. Such a character!”

Sunday brunch with Lafayette had become something of a fixture for Eliza the past few weeks. She had said that morning that it was probably the last Sunday of the year that it would be mild enough to sit out, so they were the only people on the terrace. It was worth having to keep her jacket on to enjoy the breeze in her hair as she finished her second drink, pleasantly buzzed and feeling both cocooned in conversation with her friend while also in touch with the movement of the people on the street around them. 

“He makes up for it by being really great,” she agreed. “And god, he makes me laugh. Last week I went into his office to ask him something about SEC filings and he was honest to goodness flicking through John Laurens’ cover photos album on Facebook. He had his earphones in and he obviously didn’t know I was there for a few seconds, but he jumped right out of his seat when he realised. I felt so mean for laughing, but I really couldn’t help it. I don’t know how he’s gonna share an office, if he’s mooning over the guy before he’s even arrived.” 

Lafayette made a noise of agreement, laughing into his clenched fist as he imagined the days ahead.

“I wonder what the new guy will make of Alex muttering to himself too. But I am sure Alex will pull himself together. It is only now that we are comfortable enough together that he has shown me the stranger side of him.”

“Hmm, I forget sometimes you haven’t known him as long as I have. Do you want to split a creme brûlée?” Eliza asked, reaching for the dessert menu.

“No, I want my own.”

“Good call. Let’s get another drink too before we call it a day. I cannot believe we have work again tomorrow, where did the weekend go? I guess at least it will be entertaining, and it will be good to have some new blood around.” 

“Herc has suggested we take John Laurens for a team lunch on Tuesday or Wednesday, whichever day we can all clear an hour or so. So it would be both of us, Herc, Alex, John Laurens and I think George wants to come too which at least means it will be at the firm’s expense. It will be nice to welcome him to the team and get to know him a little better.”

“The weird thing about it is that we all know so much about this guy without having met him. I’m certainly excited to put a face to the name and see if he is as bright as Henry seems to think. I’ll run in and order our desserts and drinks, would you like a coffee or anything?”

“Oooh yes, please. We can go for a walk after this too. I feel like there’s still much to discuss.”

 

Somehow the week in South Carolina had been interminably slow and flown by at the same. It was John’s first time on the estate at Mepkin since he was a kid, but he felt no affinity for his old room or the large dining room, or even the games room where he and his siblings had spent many happy weekends and summers before they had moved to New York. So much had changed since then, and they all knew it. Nothing irritated John more than seeing his family pretend that this was anything more than a shell of a home, pretending not to be aware of all that had been lost over the years.

Now that his father’s political campaign was gearing up in earnest, things were even more stilted than he had anticipated. The only comfort had been that Martha was around to talk to most of the time, and he had enjoyed hanging out with her properly for the first time in almost a year. 

John was less enthusiastic about Martha’s fiance, but he figured that would be the case no matter who she had chosen to marry. Martha was, in John’s opinion, one of the most interesting and vivacious people there was, and in comparison David seemed…dull. John wanted to be fair to him, knowing that Martha was head over heels for him and desperate for her brother to like the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, but John hadn’t been in the mood to devote his mental energy to making an effort with David and so a large proportion of their interactions had been stilted and awkward. John could tell that Martha was disappointed but he also knew that his sister would give him the benefit of the doubt, and she was due to visit New York with David at the weekend so there was still the chance to make things right. 

He had flown to New York on the evening before, landing slightly early and mercifully beating the traffic and arriving in the city at a decent hour. He ordered pizza, indulged in a glass of white wine and tried to relax by watching a nature documentary on netflix. Although he had stayed in the apartment when he was taking the Bar exams, it felt strange to be back there now, the last real home he had had in the US before he left for Europe what felt like a lifetime ago. Stripped of most of its furniture, and the few family photos and personal touches his father had bothered with when he moved the family there, it seemed lifeless and overwhelming. He would have preferred renting a smaller one bedroom apartment instead, but his father had insisted that he stayed in the former family home, which Henry Laurens had picked out precisely because it was only a few blocks from the office. 

John had slept very little, the reality of what was about to happen hitting him all at once when he turned the lights off and finally went to bed. Now he found himself standing outside the office, half an hour before he was due to start and thinking that he might be about to make a huge mistake that he was powerless to back out of.

“You lost?” John startled at the question, but gathered himself quickly enough to smile at the man who had asked it.

“Oh no, sorry, I’m starting here today actually but it’s only now I’m really seeing how impressive the building is with clear eyes, you know? When I interviewed here I was in such a daze. My name is John Laurens,” he said, reaching out to shake the man’s hand.

“Ah, it is good to meet you John Laurens! We’ve been expecting you. I’m Lafayette,” the man grinned in return, clasping John’s hand in his own and shaking it energetically. “I’m quite new too, to this office at least, so I will look out for you! Let’s get you upstairs. I believe Alex is to retrieve you from the reception this morning, so we had better let the receptionist know you have arrived, yes?”

“Nice to meet you too, Lafayette! We’re in the same department, right? Uh the thing is I’m quite early, so I wouldn’t want Mr Hamilton to arrive this morning to missed calls about me being here.”

“Yes, we are in the same department and the same team for some matters! But you will soon see how things work when you are in the swing of things. And not to worry, Alex has likely been here for several hours already so he should be due a break,” Lafayette responded cheerfully, ushering John away from the revolving doors where a small queue of people had begun to form. “I will just swipe us in here…ah yes! Now, I will take you to the reception!”

John’s phone pinged in his pocket and he took it out to check his messages.

> Good luck today, not that you need it! They’re so lucky to have you X

He couldn’t help the smile that broke out at the rush of affection he felt for his sister in that moment. Somehow she always knew exactly what he needed to hear. 

“Alex will likely give you the firm tour this morning, and then you’ll be given an IT induction and spend the afternoon in the office where Alex will get you up to speed on what he’s working on at the moment. We have tentatively scheduled a departmental lunch tomorrow afternoon which may have to be pushed back until Wednesday because Eliza might have a meeting over lunch tomorrow with a potential client. You will be sharing Alex’s office, but mine is just around the corner on the same floor so always feel free to drop in if you need anything or if he is driving you mad. He’s great, but very…intense… so in the beginning especially you might need a break.”

“Oh great, thank you,” John said, thinking that Lafayette himself was intense and wondering just how much more so Hamilton could really be on a day to day level.

When they reached the reception, Lafayette went to alert the receptionist that John had arrived and he looked around at the various conference rooms, noting that meetings appeared to be taking place in several already, even though the working day didn’t officially start for another 20 minutes. 

“Well it seems Alex is on a conference call, so Eliza will be giving you the tour soon! Would you like to wait here and read the papers or come wait in my office? I can order us breakfast,” Lafayette added, picking up his briefcase from the floor beside John.

“Oh no, that’s okay, I don’t mind waiting here and I’d hate to put you out. I hardly eat breakfast anyway but thank you very much!”

“Well I will leave you to the morning papers John, and I will see you later in the morning. I’m on the fifth floor east if you need anything at all. Eliza will take good care of you!” 

“It was so nice to meet you, thank you for escorting me,” John replied. Lafayette patted him on the shoulder and left, leaving John to sit awkwardly in the reception area and scan the newspaper headlines. He tried to swallow but he felt a huge lump in his throat. What on earth was he even doing here?

Aware that his palms were getting sweatier by the minute he pulled his phone out again to send Martha a quick response, thanking her for thinking of him, and wiped his hands on the pocket square he had in his suit jacket. He wasn’t sure if he was more or less nervous about being shown around by someone he had yet to meet, but he was grateful he wouldn’t see Hamilton again for another little while because the more time that passed once the interview, the more he was convinced he had rubbed him up the wrong way.

“Hey! Are you John Laurens? I’m Eliza!” John jumped up at the sound of her voice and turned around to smile and shake her hand.

“That’s me. Lovely to meet you, Eliza. Schuyler, right?”

“Yup! I’m guessing your dad told he knows my dad and all of that jazz. When did you arrive in the city? I’m not sure if you had a coat but there’s a cloakroom over there, or you can check your jacket in if you’d like. The office is a little stuffy today.”

“No coat for me today, I’m living just a few blocks away so I thought I’d chance it. I think our dads go way back, it’s a pity we’ve never met before. How is Phillip finding retirement?” The instant relief of having a reserve of small talk to draw on washed over John, and he found himself feeling more at ease than he had in over a week.

“This might well be the last week of mild weather so it’s good to make the most of it. Oh my poor dad is so bored these days, I’m sure once he finds a project to sink his teeth into it will be fine but for the moment he just grumbles about being directionless and having too much time on his hands. I’m not going to lie, it’s tough to listen to when things are so busy here!” She laughed and then stuck out her elbow, offering John the chance to link in with her. To his own surprise, he slotted his arm through and clung onto her as the made their way to the lift. “I’ll show you our floor and then the others you’ll be interacting with most, the library, the gym, the cafeteria and then I’ll leave you at IT induction. I think Alex will pick you up from there. So, how’s Henry? I must say, we all really miss him around here! Not that George isn’t a great managing partner, but Henry had a certain presence and it was always fun seeing him around.”

“I’m sure he thrives being busy, it must be a strange adjustment. Is he upstate at the moment? Oh yeah, my dad is good. He’s got a lot going on at the moment but it’s an exciting time. I think he misses it here though, I know he has always spoke very highly of everyone over the years.”

“He’s always spoken very highly of you to all of us, John, so it’s really nice to finally meet you! Okay so this is our floor.” Eliza led John onto the fifth floor, walking out into a bullpen area. “This is where the secretaries sit, and then the lawyers and paralegals are in the offices. Partners have their own offices on this side, where the windows are. Associates and paralegals share with one other person on the other side, but there are no windows which means no natural light. You'll get used to it, but it’s a little strange at first for sure. This is my office, I share with Lafayette who you met this morning. He arrived I want to say maybe two months ago, and he’s on secondment from the Paris office but he’s dual-qualified and he wants to stay longer than the six months allotted to him. Anyway, always feel free to come into us, we’re a friendly duo. You’ll be sharing an office with Alex, and that’s right around the corner here, past the mini kitchen. He’s on a conference call so we’ll hold off on saying hi for the time being.”

“How big are the offices?” John asked, realising that without seeing the inside it was hard to tell whether they were cramped or spacious. 

“They’re pretty big, and they’re fine to share with one other person, but you’ll find when you’re working a number of different cases the paperwork builds up really fast so it’s good to keep on top of sending things you’re not using down to storage so it doesn’t feel like you’re drowning in work. Let’s go to the third floor where corporate is. A lot of our work overlaps with them so it’s good to have a rapport with some of the lawyers there. They’re a nice bunch but they’re always rushed off their feet so generally if you have a straightforward corporate query it’s better to ask Alex first and he’ll tell you if they’d know better. Actually, my general advice is if in doubt, ask Alex. He knows everything and he’s a lot more patient and better at explaining things than he gives himself credit for.” 

Eliza broke off from John as she stepped out onto the third floor. “So corporate is the biggest department by far and they occupy the entire third floor, both the east and the west wings.” She turned to the east wing and swiped them in with her access card. “Don’t worry, Alex will take you to get your picture taken for yours later. It gives you access to the entire building, which is open 24/7. My sister Angelica works in corporate so we’ll go to her office because I want to take some of her gum, and introduce you to her of course!”

“It must be so great having your sister so nearby!” John said. “I didn’t realise how much I missed mine until I got to see her again last week. I’d spent so many years living in Europe and only seeing her briefly over Christmas. Are you very close to yours?”

“She’s my favourite person in the world,” Eliza responded immediately, with a conviction that struck John almost before he heard what she had said. “I love her dearly. We’re not even a year apart in age, so we grew up together. I don’t know how I would have done this without her.” Almost as if she realised she was being intense and coming off slightly defensive, Eliza softened her posture a little. “So, John, where are you living?”

“Just a few blocks from here, on Park. It’s actually quite a waste, it’s the huge apartment we lived in when dad moved us to New York so there are a few empty bedrooms and stuff, it’s weird.”

“Oh yeah, I know you’re from a big family too. It’s strange to grow up with constant noise and bustle, and then go to living on your own! How many kids are there?”

“Well, at the time there was my dad and five of us kids.”

“Oh. Has your dad had another kid since or something?” Eliza asked, making a confused face. As far as she had been aware it was commonly known that after the death of his wife, Henry Laurens hadn’t been interested in another relationship in the slightest.

“Uh no, one of my brothers passed away a few years back…” John slid his arm away from Eliza and awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. He could feel his skin crawl and a flush of heat wash over him, and his stomach roiled suddenly, so much so that he was convinced she could hear it. In different circumstances he would have laughed at the almost comically mortified expression on her face.

“Oh my god John, I am so sorry! I’m such an idiot, Christ, I can’t believe I just asked you that. I’m so sorry for your loss.” She reached out to link with him again, but realising that he was on edge she put her hand down again.

“It’s fine,” John said, sounding unconvincing to even his own ears and cringing. “Really, it’s fine. It’s not your fault and it was years ago. You couldn’t have known.”

“Still, what kind of a dumb question was that of me to ask? I really am sorry, there’s no excuse for me being so insensitive.”

John took a steadying breath and gave Eliza the must reassuring smile he could muster. It must have worked, because she returned it and inched closer to him.

“Honestly, it’s all good. Now lead the way! I’m excited to see if the other daughter of Phillip Schuyler is as friendly as you are.” Although he felt her relief and allowed her to link with him again and lead him towards the office where her sister worked, John felt like he was wading through water. It had just gone 9am and already he wanted nothing more than to retreat to his bed and close himself off from the world for as long as possible.


	4. Chaos theory

Angelica Schuyler’s office was bright and airy, on the side of the floor with full length windows looking out onto the streets below. This was not the first thing John noticed upon entering her office. Instead, his attention was more immediately grabbed by the tens of level-arch folders strewn across her desk and the floor around it, and the general sense of panic as two or three people ran between the door of the office to the printers and back again, hauling still more paperwork with them.

Angelica was on the phone and although she looked stressed, and was rifling through the folder on her lap with a kind of manic focus, her voice was calm and placid as she spoke to whoever was on the other end of the line.

John and Eliza stood for a second after Eliza knocked the open door gently, waiting for Angelica to notice them. Angelica’s face lit up when she saw Eliza in the doorway and she gestured for the two of them to come in, making a sweeping motion with her free hand to warn them about tripping over the binders.

“It’s a work in progress but I can assure you everything will be ready. I am arranging to circulate the execution versions in the next hour at the latest and once you’ve scanned the signature pages to me I will compile a completion bible and send it to all parties as soon as practicable. Wonderful. Thank you, thank you. Mmmm, of course. Talk to you soon!” Angelica hung up and spun around to face Eliza and John. 

“This closing is a nightmare and the holding company is in Luxembourg so I’ll be absolutely chained to my desk all morning at least. How are you? Is this John Laurens?" 

“Ughhhhh, closings suck enough without time differences too. Uh-huh, this is John. I’m showing him around because Alex is absolutely slammed already this week, it’s looking like a tough one. John, this is my older sister Angelica,” Eliza said, her hand placed lightly on his upper arm once more.

“Lovely to meet you, Angelica.” He wasn’t quite sure whether the protocol was to shake her hand, and she had already turned her attention to the binder on her lap.

“And you, John. I hope I can make it to your welcome lunch tomorrow. Eliza, if you want my gum it’s in the second drawer over there but good luck finding it through all the paperclips.” 

Eliza laughed breezily and shook the box of gum she had already fished out of the drawer. “Waaay ahead of you. Okay, we’ll get out of your hair. Text me if there’s anything I can do to help?”

“If you could magically stop the printer from jamming every few minutes, that would be great. Otherwise, and it may not look like it, we’ve got things mostly under control. Thank you.”

Eliza leant over to press a kiss to the top of Angelica’s head. John was already trying to extricate himself from the office, where a few more lever-arch binders had somehow materialised right at his feet. He tried not to laugh as Angelica’s phone rang again and she groaned theatrically, reaching across the desk to pick it up without knocking any of the several half-empty coffee cups onto the papers around her. 

“She seems busy!” John said to Eliza once they were both in the open plan area, dodging the people frantically rushing between the filing area and Angelica’s office.

“Yeah, she’s usually swamped. Angelica works a lot on deals with European elements because she speaks French and German, which means she is generally busier earlier in the day here. The upside of that is she tends to be one of the first of us to leave in the evenings, even if it means she comes in early all the time.”

 

Meanwhile, on the fifth floor, Alex had the vaguely unsettling feeling that he had forgotten something important. 

He bit his thumbnail as he mulled over his mental to-do list, trying to work out what he could possibly have missed. As soon as he remembered he scrambled to pick up his phone and pushed Herc's speed dial button.

“Hey, wasn’t John Laurens supposed to be starting today!? Is he just sitting up in reception waiting for me? I definitely haven’t heard that he’s arrived!”

“Good morning to you too, Ham,” Herc laughed. “Yeah but don’t worry, I could see from your calendar you had a conference call so I asked Eliza to give him the office tour, she’ll drop him up in a bit. Actually can I give you his HR induction pack to pass on? I’m in meetings and interviews all afternoon and I’d rather he got the information this morning.”

“Oh. Okay, cool. Eliza was a good choice actually, she’s not too likely to scare him off. And yeah, sure, come in whenever. I’ll just be plugging away on some drafting for the next couple of hours anyway.”

“Yeah, I just wanted to be sure I wasn’t gonna walk in on you peacocking or whatever, I’ll be right up!”

By the time Herc made it to Alex’s office, Lafayette was also sitting at the desk discussing an email. Alex waved him in and he clapped Lafayette’s shoulder genially. 

“How are you, man?”

“I’m well thank you, how was your weekend upstate?”

As Herc and Lafayette discussed their weekend adventures, Alex continued to tweak one of the recitals to the deed he was drafting, the clacking sound of his typing a steady rhythm in the background. 

“Right, sorry but that was bugging the fuck out of me. You got that pack with you?”

Herc placed the folder in front of Alex. “No problem. I need you to give that to John as soon as possible though, and let him know that I’ll check in with him later.”

Alex caught Lafayette’s eye and gave him an exaggerated wink. “Oh don’t worry,” he said, sitting up straight in his chair, “I’ll make sure I give it to him at the first available opportunity.” Herc tsked and Alex mumbled “…in a HR-appropriate way, of course.”

“You’re lucky I know you’re joking. So I think Eliza has just left John off with IT and that should only be half an hour max, so he’ll be up soon. Play nice, yeah? I’ll see you both later. Lafayette, you’re nowhere near as good an influence on this guy as I thought you’d be!” 

“He is incorrigible, I do not know what you expected,” Lafayette laughed. “I’d better go too but Alex, give me a call when John Laurens is here and I will come in to say hi and help you give him an overview.”

“Nice to see the team coming together to welcome the newbie,” Alex grumbled, but he couldn’t help but grin sheepishly at his friends as they left.

He cracked his knuckles and got back to his screen. Half an hour was plenty of time to wrap up this deed before 5’ 10” of waistcoated distraction arrived at his door. 

 

After twenty minutes of being shown how to send an email and save microsoft word documents, John was eager to get away and settle into his office. He took the sheet with the IT service desk helpline and waited at the elevator bank for Eliza to meet him.

“Hey! How was it?” she asked, pushing the button to go up and stepping close to John.

“Yeah, it was fine. A little basic but I guess they can’t be too careful with this stuff really. I have a training session on information security later in the week, so that should be interesting at least.”

“And how was the library training? I was saying to Herc because you don't have a US law degree it might be better to arrange some one-on-one training on research using US resources, just in case. Although I heard you passed the Bar first time around?”

John shrugged awkwardly. “Mmmm. It was nice to be surrounded by books again, but I was wondering whether we use them much in our department. And yeah, that’s just because I’m good at exams though. I just learned it all off and spat it back out again, so I was confident I’d pass. I’ve done some research before using US law resources but I guess it couldn’t hurt to get more training on it.”

“Well I think that’s really impressive,” Eliza said. “And obviously Alex and Herc did too!”

“Yeah well, it’s not like they could have not hired me when my father was the one who referred me.” John cursed himself for saying it out loud, and in such a sullen tone too, as Eliza’s eyes widened. Why did he keep putting his foot in it with her, when she was just trying to reassure him? He clearly must be visibly on edge, for her to be making so much effort with him even after he kept making things awkward.

He couldn’t bear to look at the sympathy on her face so he stared at his feet and bolted into the elevator as soon as the doors opened.

“John,” she said gently, reaching out to touch his shoulder. He focused all of his energy on not flinching but kept his eyes closed and trained on the floor. “Hey, come on. Nobody thinks that about you.”

“Nobody thinks what about me?” he snapped, meeting her eyes in defiance. For a moment Eliza looked as though she had been slapped but she quickly regained her composure and left her hand on his shoulder.

“Look, I get it. I do,” she protested as John made a noise of complaint, “maybe not exactly but I know what it’s like to feel like… actually y’know what, fuck this. Let’s go out and get some air and a coffee. Alex can wait fifteen minutes.” She pressed the button for the ground floor and took out her phone. “My treat, before you say anything. There’s a really good place just across the street and we can sit outside.”

John could feel his cheeks heat up with embarrassment at how rude and childish he was being. He couldn’t identify why but he knew that there were tears waiting just beneath the surface and that one more kind word from Eliza would set him off.

“I’m sorry Eliza. I’m so sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” The doors opened on the ground floor and Eliza took his hand and led him out.

“It’s okay, it’s a tough day.”

“Ugh I just… I don’t know, I just don’t know!” The first of the traitorous tears started to fall and Eliza squeezed his hand, making soothing noises. She pointed out the sheltered seating area across the street. 

“Why don’t you grab us a table and I’ll get our coffees? What do you take?” 

“Uh just an Americano please, thank you.”

Eliza went into the coffee shop and John, mortified, sat at a table facing away from the entrance to the firm across the street. Now that he was outside he felt significantly better, although he also remembered the summer he had interned in the firm and had spent a great deal of time running to this exact cafe to get coffees for the lawyers. He had only been sixteen then and it was just a three week stint, but he had promised himself that no matter what, he wouldn’t end up like them, slaves to their emails and dull beyond belief, pretending to be passionate about stocks and tax and bonds. 

He rubbed the palms of his hand against his eyes, which were itchy from holding back tears. Eliza came back and slid his coffee in front of him without a word.

“I’m sorry. I’m not usually so difficult as I’ve been today, I promise,” he said, not for the first time unable to bring himself to look directly at her. He could feel her gaze steady on his face so he continued to stare at his cup and his hands, waiting for her to speak.

“You don’t have to tell me anything,” she started, “but I know that this is more than first day nerves. And I know you must feel under a lot of pressure, given who your father is and all you’ve accomplished so far.”

John nodded almost imperceptibly and she continued. “Look, I know this is all overwhelming but you’re gonna be fine. You are. Honestly, and I want you to really listen to this because it’s 100% the truth and you’re not likely to ever hear it directly from him: Alex was so impressed by you at interview. Before that, even. He literally told me that he had never seen such impressive credentials. And yeah, so maybe he and Herc had to hire you, but he has been so upbeat and excited ever since they did, precisely because he would have even if he had had a total carte blanche, and he loves to get his way.” She laughed fondly and took a sip of her espresso. “And we’ll all be such good friends after a while. I know it’s scary and god, I can’t even imagine what it’s like to move back here after so long in Europe, leaving all your friends there behind and still being far from your family. But give it a chance. Give yourself a chance, huh?”

John looked up and smiled at Eliza.

“Thank you,” he whispered, biting his lip and catching himself. “I really appreciate it. It’s just been a tough few weeks I guess, a lot of change to adapt to.”

“You have to give yourself time, John.”

He nodded and continued to fidget with his coffee cup. They sat in silence for a few more minutes, and for once John did not feel an intense need to fill the space between them with small talk.

The blaring traffic that he had hated so much as a teenager when his father had dragged them all to the city felt like an anchor connecting him to the city, and Eliza, that morning. 

Eventually Eliza’s phone started ringing, and she sighed and picked up her bag. 

“Right, we’d better get you up to Alex before he thinks I spirited you away back to England!”

John took a final long gulp of his drink and stood up to walk with her. He checked his own phone and predictably, there were a few unimportant emails, a response from Martha he’d reply to later and a message from his father telling him to call as soon as he got out for lunch.

He switched his phone off and put it back in his pocket. 

 

Alex had spent every spare moment in the week before making training and guidance notes for John, so he would have reference materials to work from when he was doing things for the first time, and he wouldn’t be bored and idle if Alex was busy and hadn’t given him any work. At the time it had seemed a good idea but now, as he laid each document on John’s new desk, he felt like it was silly and overeager.

“‘The Anatomy of a Security Document’, are you serious Hamilton?” he muttered to himself. It was almost tempting to just take them back and pretend he had never written them, but he had spent several hours on them after all, and even if the titles were a little pretentious they would surely come in useful… 

His phone lit up with a text from Eliza saying that she and John had gone for a quick coffee but he was now on his way up to sit with Alex for the rest of the day. That settled it; the guidance notes stayed.

Alex had also gotten one of the fancy glass bottles of sparkling water and left it beside John’s keyboard. On his last trip to the stationery room he had left with everything John could possibly need, and now it was laid out in some semblance of order on the desk waiting for him.

It had been several months since Alex had shared an office, and he was surprised how nervous he was at the prospect. Although this job had led to several solid friendships, the banter that flowed between them all only served to make him more aware of those aspects of his personality which were irritating to other people. 

He was also wary of how much he wanted John Laurens to like him. That had blindsided him in the interview and although at the time he thought that he would get over it, more than a week later he could still feel that need in the pit of his stomach.

He sat at his desk, pretending to be casually looking over a facility agreement when John knocked at his door. Alex cleared his throat.

“Come in!” He wheeled back to get a good look and couldn’t stop himself from smiling.

John Laurens was wearing a charcoal three-piece suit that Alex thought at first glance was a fine imitation of a Tom Ford Windsor suit with a peak lapel, but soon realised was the real thing. He had an actual pocket square in his suit jacket, which was unfastened, showing off the waistcoat and the full length of his slate grey tie. His silver cufflinks looks monogrammed, presumably with his initials but Alex couldn’t get a good look while maintaining the air of casual interest he was aiming for. John stood in the door almost nervously for a few seconds longer, and then stuck his hand out to take Alex’s.

“Good to see you again, man!” he beamed. Alex smiled back and focused intently on not biting his lip like a moron.

“You too John! How was South Carolina? Ah please, sit. This is your desk by the way, I have stuff set out for you but obviously feel free to do whatever with it.” Those well-honed skills of projecting self-assurance were coming in handy for Alex today he thought wryly, turning away a little so he wouldn’t gawk as John sat in his chair.

“Thank you, that looks great. Oh, are these notes?”

“Uh yeah, just some rough stuff I did as I was going along last week. I figured it’d give you a good overview of what you’ll be doing here and if you have some spare time it’s a decent way of using it. There’s like a glossary of some of the frequently used terminology, an anatomy of a security document because we deal with lots of those of course, a guide to SEC filings, uh I can’t really remember what else but yeah, feel free to look through it and trash anything you don’t need.”

“Oh wow, these will be so useful!” John flipped through the lengthy glossary of terms, barely held together by a large bulldog clip. 

“Yeah, that’ll hopefully be good to have for reference, and not just in the beginning. I definitely left some shit out but please always feel free to ask me something you’re not sure of. The important thing to remember is nobody is born with this knowledge, not even you with your dad having been the managing partner, and a lot of it is made up to sound as inaccessible as possible but theoretically it’s usually quite straightforward, or at least you can always bring it back to first principles and work things out from there.”

Alex’s office phone rang and he immediately pushed the button to send it to voicemail. 

“Oh and I have a meeting at three this afternoon, you should come. I’ll give you a brief background before it but don’t worry, I won’t expect you to lead the discussion or anything, it’s more about giving you an insight.”

“Sounds great,” John said, now turning to face Alex right on. He looked like he was trying to work out how to ask something and Alex felt a twinge of discomfort at not knowing where the conversation was going.

“So how’s Henry?” he blurted out all at once.

“He’s good. Busy, you know? Things are really starting to kick off with the campaign. It's an exciting time for him, I know this is what he’s always wanted most of all and I’m proud of him for pursuing it.” 

There was something disconcerting about the change in John’s tone in that moment, which had been so bright and engaging but seemed to almost flag as he talked about his father. Alex wanted to figure it out but knew better than to push.

“Ah good old Henry. I pity whoever is running against him, I really do. There’s no getting in his way. He’s really missed around here y’know. George Washington is a great managing partner of course, but there was something about your father that really drew everyone together.”

“He has that effect for sure.” John was once again flicking through the notes on his desk and Alex decided to change the subject.

“So I’m working on this deal that’s closing next week, and I want to give you an insight into it. You might want to take notes, so grab a pen and a memo pad and come over when you’re ready. Basically, our client is a New York bank operating as syndicating agent in the refinancing of a corporate structure with various entities across the US and Europe…”

By the time 1pm rolled around John was pretty much up to speed on the background of the transaction. He was just thinking that he’d grab something to eat on the go and read up some more over his lunch break when Alex stood up and gestured for John to follow.

“I hardly ever take an actual lunch hour but screw it, it’s your first day so let's go out and get something good. Pizza? Tacos? Pad thai? What’s your poison?”

“Oh man, I don’t know. I guess I’m kind of hungry and I don't really know the area anymore so I’ll let you decide? I did have great pizza last night, but it was delivered so I don’t know if it’s nearby. Serafina?”

“Pizza is a great idea. Two pizza orders in 24 hours, you’re surely a man after my own heart John Laurens. I know a great place a few blocks away, they have a great range of toppings and the dough is to die for. Do you need to get your coat?”

John fought down a blush and waved Alex off.  
“You can never have too much pizza! It’s the best possible thing to have in my first few days in New York too, right?” he laughed. “I didn’t take a coat with me, but it’s fine. My suit is actually quite warm.”

“You’ll be the new pizza rat, in your Tom Ford suit,” Alex said with a wink as put on his own peacoat. “Okay, let’s go. I can justify taking you for a long lunch on your first day, but I want to get out of this building tonight for at least a couple of hours before I have to come back!”

As they walked through the bullpen to the elevator bank, clearly leaving the office for an actual lunch break, Alex was oblivious to the disbelieving stares of the secretaries. Lafayette came out of his office just in time to get a quick head nod from Alex, and a wave from John, before they got into the elevator and left. He smiled knowingly to himself and texted Eliza. “It seems that the new guy has ingratiated himself with Alex already, I think they’re going for lunch together!”

His phone lit up with a response almost instantly.

“Excellent. I give it to the end of the week before they're joined at the hip!”


End file.
